One last goodbye
by msashlyjudd8
Summary: Aaron has been back for a month, and Robert can't get through to him. What if saying goodbye is the only answer?


First of all, can I just say, I have no idea where the hell this came from. I have found myself on Aaron's side of this whole POS story line. But, for some reason, this plot bunny jumped into my head, and started writing itself so fast that I had to grab a notebook and actually write it out by hand. So, this is mostly seen/written through Roberts eyes. Also, I just have to add, I 100% do not believe that Robert is the "victim" in this whole cheating/baby story line. Was he drunk? Yes. Was he sober enough to text Rebecca? Yes. Do I think, if he wanted to, that he could have stopped what happened? Absolutely. Both are at fault. Nobody is a victim here, except Aaron maybe. And that is just my opinion.

I think my subconscious was feeling a little sorry for Robert, and that is where this came from. I dunno.

* * *

Aaron had been back in the village for a month and Robert had still not gotten any closer to getting his husband back. No amount of begging or crying had been able to budge Aaron's decision to end their relationship. The two of them had only had a hand full of brief conversations, and that was only when Robert was able to get passed Aaron's new bodyguard, Adam Barton. They had suddenly become fused at the hip, because god forbid Robert and Aaron actually sit down and have a proper conversation. Adam had, once again, screwed up his own marriage, so he had nothing better to do then thwart Roberts chance at happiness.

Not that Robert is surprised that Aaron wanted nothing to do with him. Robert had been the one to get drunk and ruin everything. Now he had a kid on the way that he wanted nothing to do with and no husband. He had nobody to blame but himself.

A month of watching Aaron move on with his life, Adam always by his side, and Robert was finally starting to realize just how pathetic his life had become; how utterly alone he was. Rebecca had somehow charmed all the women in the village, his sister included, with her expanding belly. They all doted on her and glared whenever Robert came anywhere near her. Robert was public enemy number one and he had had enough.

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when a plan began to form in his mind. He was sitting outside at the cafe, having a coffee, when Aaron and Adam stumbled out of the cottage, laughing and wrestling with each other. They were pushing and shoving each other like best friends, and the smile on Aaron's face was beautiful. And then his eyes met Robert's across the road, and the smile fell. The laughing and smiling stopped, and when Adam realized what happened, he turned his glare to Robert. Adam wrapped his big arm around Aaron's shoulders and steered him toward his car.

Robert was not going to stick around where he wasn't wanted. The plan in his mind began to take shape. It would take a few days and some research, but Robert was tired of being and feeling useless. He would tie up lose ends and then he could finally leave this place.

* * *

Three days later Robert was ready to move on. Decisions had been made, meetings had been held and now Robert had just one last stop to make. That morning, Robert made arrangements to leave Emmerdale behind for good. He met with his lawyer to dissolve his partnership with the scrap yard and the hauling firm. He signed both of his shares over to Aaron and placed both contracts in the hands of his lawyer, to be delivered when he was long gone.

Robert then made arrangements for Rebecca to receive a cheque for 100,000£, and another 100,000£ was put in a trust to be given to his son on his 18th birthday. Both the cheque and the trust were to be delivered to Rebecca after Robert had gone.

The last business meeting was the most important, and the most delicate. The meeting with his lawyer, and a nice woman named Clair, had gone very well and with one last signature, and one last large cheque, Robert was on his way back to the village. His belongings were already packed away in his car. He was one last stop, and one last goodbye from being free.

Aaron would always be the love of his life, but it was very clear that they were not good for each other right now. Maybe time would change that. Maybe time would bring them back together eventually, but for now...it was time to say goodbye. Aaron needed time to heal his mind and his body, and if Robert needed to leave for that to happen, then he was going to do it.

The gravel crunched under his tires as Robert pulled up outside the pub. He was still dressed in a suite, from his meeting in the city. Robert knew that Aaron and Adam were inside having their lunch so he took the large flat envelope from the passenger seat and made his way inside.

Debbie was behind the bar, cleaning glasses with a white towel. A few random couples sat at the back tables having their lunch, and Aaron and Adam were exactly where he thought they would be. They were sitting next to each other at the end of the bar. They each had a pint and basket of fish and chips. Some things never change.

The smile on Aaron's face fell as he spotted Robert making is way over.

"Aaron, could I speak to you for a moment, alone?"

Honestly, Robert was expecting to be rejected, so it wasn't really a surprise that when both men spun around, Aaron rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Robert, I'm not in the mood for this today. Can we not go through this every time we see each other?"

He deserved that. For the last month, he had fallowed Aaron around like a lost puppy.

"I just need two minutes of your time, Aaron. Please?"

"Mate," Adam cut in. "You need to stop embarrassing yourself. _You_ caused this. _You_ are the reason your marriage is over."

 _Okay. Enough._

Robert turned to stare Adam down. It was time to take him down a few notches.

"Do you know what I find amusing, Adam?"

Adam's mouth opened, but Robert didn't give him a chance to speak.

"You get the be the big hero. You get to sweep Aaron away to Ireland, away from his lying, cheating husband..."

Robert took a step closer.

"What you seem to forget is that you did the exact same thing to MY sister. You lied, and cheated and you ended up with a kid."

Robert was fuming.

"Except, you lucked out didn't you? Because Victoria forgave you even when the kid ended up not being yours."

Robert considered it a victory when Adam's face fell.

"Maybe you need to take a long look at yourself and stay the hell out of my relationship."

"That's enough," Aaron stood, placing himself between Robert and his best friend.

Robert stepped back, and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I'm sorry," Robert said, "I didn't come here to start a fight. I just wanted to speak to you for a moment."

He held up the envelope in his hand so that Aaron could see it.

"I have something that I wanted to give you."

Aaron took one look at the envelope and shook his head, as he turned and sat back at the bar.

"I know you, Robert, so I'm guessing that there is a boat load of cash in that envelope. Because that is all you know how to do. You have a problem? You throw a bunch of cash at it and expect it to go away."

Robert opened his mouth to object, but Aaron continued.

"I can't be bought, Robert. You cheated and you have a kid. That is never going to go away. We are done, so take whatever you have in there and do one, because I'm not interested."

With that, Aaron turned his back to Robert.

That was when Robert realized that they were really over. Aaron had said he would always love him, but looking into his eyes, Robert could tell that whatever love Aaron held for him was long gone.

"You're right," Robert whispered. He had given up. "I am a useless, cheating, money grubbing, monster."

Robert's heart thundered as he squeezed his eyes shut. He needed to get out of here before his emotions got the best of him.

"You don't have to worry, I'm done. I won't be bothering you again."

Robert turned and took three steps toward the door, and then he stopped. He had come here to give Aaron the contents of the envelope, but he wouldn't even look at it. And if Aaron didn't care, then the contents were meaningless.

"Debbie," Robert said, to get her attention. When she looked up, he handed her the envelope.

"Could you bin that for me, please?"

"Uh...sure," She said, her eyes quickly sliding behind Robert to where Adam and Aaron still sat, and then back to him. Robert tipped his head, and then he was walking again, without looking back. He settled into his car, taking one last look around. This village had always been his home and Robert would leave his heart here with Victoria and Aaron, but he wouldn't miss anything else about this god forsaken place.

Robert turned the key, put the car in drive and drove away from his home, perhaps for the last time.

* * *

Debbie didn't claim to know everything about Aaron and Robert, but she had heard the rumors floating around the pub. And, after witnessing what just happened, her heart broke for both of them. When Robert left the pub, Aaron and Adam went back to drinking and laughing like nothing had happened. She, however, was curious. She excused herself to the back room so she could see exactly what was so important about the envelope Robert had asked her to throw away.

She sat down at the small table in the back room, and gently opened the top of the envelope. There was a small stack of official looking papers. She pulled them out and lay them on top of the orange envelope. She leaned forward to read the small words on the paper, and as she got about half way down the page, she gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.

* * *

"How long do you think he will leave you alone this time?" Adam asked his best friend.

Aaron rolled his eyes and drained the last of his pint.

"I don't know. Mum and Liv will be home next week though and he's scared of both of them."

Adam threw his head back, as he laughed. And then he stood up to stretch the kinks out of his back.

"Time to get back to work, mate."

Aaron nodded and stood up to follow.

"Hey!"

Both men startled at the shout, turning to see Debbie storming up to the bar, anger clear in her eyes.

"You!" she said, pointing at Adam. " You set fire to the garage, with my dad inside. And, You..."

She turned, pointing right at Aaron.

"You stole another woman's husband, and you lied for Adam about the fire. Look at you both now though, walking around here right as rain."

Both men gaped at her.

"So maybe next time someone is asking for a little bit of forgiveness, you won't be so quick to turn them away."

With that she slammed the envelope, with the sheets of paper still laying on top, on the bar in front of Aaron, and then she was storming away again.

Aaron looked to Adam, eyes wide, and then stepped forward to pick up the papers.

 **A donation has been made in the name of my husband, Aaron Dingle, in the amount of 200,000 to 'The WISH Center.'**

 **The WISH Center (WISH) is a charity supporting young people into recovery from self harm, violence, abuse and neglect. We do this through providing a safe and confidential place with problem focused counseling at our Center and in schools; text and online support; self harm peer support programs; advice and help for keeping safe; campaigning and innovative & creative workshops for teenagers, and much more. WISH is run by psychotherapists and young people in recovery from self harm who are ex-service users. Every year 90% of young people coming to WISH stop self harming and improve their emotional well being and personal safety. **

**The WISH Center supports children, teenagers and young people who self harm or have experienced sexual or domestic violence, abuse or neglect. A donation from you, today, will help us to save and change young lives by funding specialist therapeutic care and support so urgently needed to rebuild shattered young lives. Many victims who do not get support will be suicidal, self harm and find it hard to do the normal things in life such as going to school and having friends.**

Aaron didn't realize he was crying until Adam put his hand on his shoulder.

"What is it?"

Aaron couldn't speak, so he handed the papers to Adam so he could read them himself.

"Whoa!" Adam, exclaimed. "Two hundred grand? Where the hell did he get that kind of money?"

Aaron still couldn't speak. His heart was hammering in his chest, as he remembered Robert's face. He had tried so hard to give this to Aaron, and he had rejected him. Aaron itched to pull out his phone and call Robert, but he couldn't make his arms work. The devastation on Robert's face as he walked out of the pub was going to haunt Aaron for a long time.

"Uh...excuse me?" A man's voice said from behind Aaron. "I'm looking for Aaron Dingle?"

The man wore a blue suite and looked to be in his mid 50's.

"Uh.." Aaron said, wiping the tears from his face. "Yeah, that's me."

"Okay, good." The man said. "Sign this please," he said handing Aaron a clip board with an official looking document.

Aaron signed and handed the clip board back to the man, who then handed over two white envelopes.

"These are for you. Have a nice day." And then he turned to leave.

"Wait...hold on," Aaron called after him. "Who are you? And, what are these?" Aaron held up the two envelopes.

"My name is Charles Winston, and I represent Robert Sugden."

"Represent...as in a lawyer?" Adam asked.

"Yes, I am a lawyer and Mr. Sugden has tasked me with delivering those, and a few other documents. Would either of you know where I could reach Rebecca White?"

Aaron and Adam looked at each other, and then back to Charles.

"What do you want with her?" Aaron asked.

"Well..." Charles stuttered, "I'm not really supposed to divulge that information, but as you are Mr. Sugden's husband...uh...I suppose it doesn't matter now."

"What are you talking about? Why are you being so cryptic?"

Aaron was starting to get a bad feeling in his gut.

"Well, it's just that...I had very specific instructions to deliver these documents to the two of you.

There was the bad feeling again.

"What are the documents?" Aaron asked.

"Well...Mr. Sugden dissolved his partnership with the scrap yard, and his hauling firm. He signed both of his shares over to you, Mr Dingle."

Aaron's heart sank and his pulse started to race.

"I also have in my possession, a cheque for Ms. Rebecca White for 100,000£. To be used as child support for her son. Along with that, I have a trust that has been set up for her son, also for 100,000£, to be released upon his 18th Birthday."

Aaron was going to pass out. His breathing was irregular and his vision was starting to swirl. Robert had given all his money away. He signed over his businesses and...wait.

"Why isn't Robert delivering all of this himself? Where is he?"

Charles opened his mouth and then closed it again. Aaron wanted to strangle him.

"Um...I'm not at liberty to say. I was instructed to deliver everything after Mr. Sugden had left town."

"Left town?" Adam questioned.

Aaron wasn't listening though. He turned around and took his phone out of his pocket with shaking hands. A few taps to his phone, and Aaron was pressing it to his ear. He held his breath as the call tried to connect. Robert had tried to reach out and Aaron had sent him away. And now he was just gone. Tears gathered behind his eyelids and slipped down his face as the call was immediately sent to voice mail.

* * *

It was almost peaceful watching the hills and valley's pass by. This wasn't the first time Robert had packed up his car and left the village. This time though, he left his heart behind. Aaron was unexpected, in the best way. He was sex, and love and excitement mixed with a little bit of tragedy. He was everything Robert had ever wanted. And Robert had to thank his lucky stars that he got to have Aaron in his life, for however brief a time. He would never forget him. Never stop loving him.

The ring on his finger would always remind him of the life that they could have had.

Robert turned the music up and drove.

* * *

Let me know what you think?

(WISH) is an actual medical center and charity for Self harm, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. It is based in London, England. If you or anyone are a victim and would like more information I will leave a link to the website.

.uk/donate/

For Americans who are victims of sexual abuse or self harm, The Crasac Cornwall Rape and Sexual abuse Center has lots of information and Services. I will leave the link below.

. /self-harm/


End file.
